Piano



April 1941. F. A. WESSELL, JR

PIANO Filed May 18, 1938 WITNESS ATTORNEYS Patented Apr. 1, 1941 UNITEDSTATES PATENT @EFFEQE PIANO Fernando A. Wessell, Jr., Red Bank, N. J.

Application May 18, 1938, Serial No. 208,567

3 Claims.

.. requirements imposed by the modern technique .l

and which can be readily assembled and adjusted in the piano with aminimum of effort.

In the construction of an upright piano, it is necessary that theoperating parts be incorporated therein in a certain definiterelationship in order that the piano will have a good tonal quality andwill satisfy the numerous requirements of the modern technique. One ofthes requirements is that the key touch, which is the normal amount offorce that the finger or the player applies to a key in order to obtainfrom the string the desired vibrating power and resonance, should beapproximately two ounces to three ounces and this is standard for allpianos. The depth of touch or drop is also standard and all modernpianos have a depth of touch of approximately to 1% of an inch. Theleverage of the key levers in modern upright pianos is such that a keylever will lift one end of the wippen operatively connected to its innerend, two-thirds of the distance that the key lever is depressed, as thisratio has been found by experience to give the most satisfactoryresults.

' The key levers of a modern upright plane, therefore, are usuallyconstructed and balanced so that the weight arm of the key lever and thepower arm thereof will be in the proportion of two to three. The actionsin an upright piano are usually so constructed and arranged withrelation to the key levers that the wippens thereof will rotate upwardlythrough a predetermined angle as the weight arms of th key levers arerotated upwardly so that when a key is depressed by the player, theassociated key lever weight arm and action will rise with a minimumamount of friction from below center. The relationship of all the leverarcs of the several] parts of the action also must be maintained withscientific exactness to enable such parts to move relative to oneanother with a minimum of friction and to obtain the most satisfactoryresults with the modern requirements of key touch, depth of touch, keylever leverage, and the amount of force with which the hammer hits thestring at its striking point. The hammer blow is, of

course, dependent upon the size of the hammer, the amount of forceimparted to the hammer butt by the key lever through the action and thedistance through which the hammer head has to travel. Experience hasdemonstrated that in an upright pianothe hammer head should travelapproximately 1%, to 1% inches in order to giv the string a blowsuitable to impart the desirable vibrating power .to the string. Anotherrequirement that has developed through long experience in this art isthat the jack or fly should be pivoted outwardly away from the hammerbutt when the hammer head is Within to of an inch of completing itstravel toward its ass ciated string after a key has been depressed inorder to enable the hammer to rebound freely from the string after ithas delivered its blow while yet maintaining a. proper timing of thecoacting parts so that they will function satisfactorily during theplaying of the piano. It will be evident therefore that the arrangementof the operating parts in an upright piano suitable for the moderntechnique involves a satisfactory fulfilment of numerous requirementsand that such parts are so arranged that even a slight modification ofany one of them may materially affect the operation of the piano andrender it unsuitable for the modern technique. These requirements applyto every action and its associated parts in order that there will beprovided a uniformity of key touch, depth of touch, key lever leverage,action operation, and hammer blow throughout the piano.

At the present time, there is practically no demand for the heretoforesatisfactory regular upright or vertical piano because of its bulkinessand in an effort to meet the modern ideas of interior decoration, pianomanufacturers have been obliged to considerably reduc the size of theupright piano so as to provide the smallest practical instrument. Thisresult has been obtained, so far as I am aware, not by changing thecoordination and relationship of the parts of the actions which hadattained perfection after long years of often expensive experience, butby changing the size and/or arrangement of the strings, string plate,and sound board of the piano or by dropping the action mechanism to aplac between the inner ends of the key levers and the strings or belowthe key levers. While such prior small piano constructions have provenfairly successful, they have not been completely satisfactory forseveral reasons. For example, in those small pianos whose size has beenobtained solely by dropping the action mechanism tends up through thekey lever,

to a position between the inner ends of the key levers and the stringsor below the key levers, the changed position of the actions broughtinto being other disadvantageous factors which were not present in thestandard upright piano, such as interference of the mechanisms whichconnected the actions to the key levers with the operation of th actionsor key levers, difficulty in adjustment or replacement of parts, etc.Furthermore, the connections devised for the actions and key levers ofthese small pianos are of a complicated nature or possess inherentfaults which made their use in a piano not entirely satisfactory.

In studying this problem it occurred to me that it might be possible toreduce the height of the upright piano sufficiently for moderndecorative purposes and still retain the advantages of the regularupright by reducing the size of the action itself. could not by merelyreducing the dimensions of the several parts of the regular uprightaction expect to obtain a satisfactory action which would fulfil therequirements of the modern technique but I found after further study andexperimentation that if in addition certain substantial and radicalchanges in the arrangement and construction of the parts comprising suchact-ion were made, such a result could be accomplished. These changes,while apparently very simple, have enabled me to considerably reduce thesize ocf the standard upright piano without positioning the actionintermediate the strings and the key levers or below the latter, ornecessitating the use of additional connecting mechanisms and to providea compact action arrangement which is of simple construction, can bereadily arranged and adjusted in the small modern cases, will functionin a. most reliable and satisfactory manner and will fulfil all of therequirements imposed by th modern technique.

For a better understanding of my invention, reference is to be had tothe following description taken in connection with the accompanyingdrawing in which Fig. l is a side elevation of an in dotted outline attheir innermost position afterthe key has been struck and the rod 66being shown in dotted outline at its uppermost position as a result ofdepressing a foot pedal of the piano, to illustrate the coa-ction ofsuch outlined parts in sustaining individual notes or chords, and Fig. 3is a detailed view of the improved fly or jack utilized in my action,the jack being shown in full size.

In the drawing, the reference character It designates the key leverwhich is supported intermediate its ends'upon a block H mounted on thebaseboard I2 of the piano. The key lever i is pivoted to rock on theblock II in the customary fashion by means of a pin l3 which ex- Acushion I4 of felted material is provided on the baseboard [2 to supportthe inner end of the key lever in its normal or at-rest position asshown in Fig. 1 and a felt washer I5 is mounted on a stud 16 forcontrolling the depth of touch or drop of the My experience told me thatI A key provided on the outer end of the key lever ID. This constructionis similar to that of an ordinary upright piano, the length of theweight arm of the key lever with relation to the length of the power armthereof being in the ratio of 2:3 and the depth of touch beingapproximately {a of an inch. The inner end of the key lever, however,unlike the ordinary upright key lever, is reduced in thickness toapproximately half the thickness of the remaining portion of the keylever. Secured upon the inner reduced end of the key lever is a capstanscrew ll arranged to engage with a felt pad ll provided on the undersideof a wippen H3.

The wippen I8 is pivotally supported at I8 by a depending wippen flangel9 which is secured at its upper end to the lower portion of an actionrail 2!). Fastened to the upper rear portion of the action rail 2!] is ahammer flange 28 which pivotally supports at its upper end a hammer butt22, the latter of which carries the shank 23 and the hammer 24, theshank 23 resting against a rail 25 when in its normal or atrestposition, as shown in Fig. l. The hammer butt 22 is provided with theusual cushion 26 and the upwardly and outwardly inclined cushionedsurface 2?. It is to be observed at this point that the hammer butt 22and the hammer 24 ar of standard size but the shank 23 has beenconsiderably shortened in length and is approximately 2% inches long.

The cushions 26 and 27 are engaged by the upper end of a jack 28 whichis pivoted at its lower end to the upwardly extending standard 28carried by the wippen IS, the pivot of the jack being designated by thenumeral 33 in Fig. 3 of the drawing. The upper end of the fly or jack isnormally held against the cushions 26 and 21 and in the corner formed bysaid cushioned surfaces by means of a spring 3B which is positionedbetween an outwardly extending arm 3| formed on the lower end of thejack and the upper surface of the wippen I8 as shown more clearly inFig.2. Just above the arm 3| is supported a stop 32 with which the arm3| is adapted to contact during the upward movement of the whippen 18under the action of the key lever 10. It will be evident from thedrawing, as thus far described, that when the key is depressed to liftthe inner end or weight arm of the key lever, the wippen l8 will berotated about its pivot l8 to lift the jack 23. The upward movement ofthe jack will force the hammer butt 22 about its pivot and cause thehammer 24 to strike the piano string 49 a blow, As soon as the arm 3| ofthe jack engages with the stop'32 during the upward movement of thewippen l8, the upper end of the jack 28 will be caused to swingoutwardly along the cushioned surface 21. As is the case with a standardupright action this operation occurs when the hammer head which has atravel of approximately 1% inches is within from to of an inch ofcompleting its travel to the string 49 as is illustrated by the dottedposition of the hammer head 24 in Fig. l of the drawing.

The point of engagement or contact of the arm M with the stop 32 isindicated in Fig. 1 by an arrow. As will be observed more clearly inFigs. 2 and 3 of the drawing, the recessed portion 35 on the undersideof the arm 3| for receiving the upper end of the spiral jack spring 39is positioned at a distance from the pivotal point 33 of the jack sothat the lever arm from such pivotal point to the center of force ofsuch operated to strik the piano wire.

spring is greater than the length of the lever arm between such pivotalpoint and the point of contact 34. This is clearly illustrated in Fig.3, where the broken line 36 indicates the lever arm between the pivotalpoint 33 and the center of force of the spring 39.] and the broken line31 indicates the lever arm between the pivotal point 33 and the point ofcontact 34. I have found that contrary to the long established practicewith respect to standard actions, the leverage exerted by the jackspring in a compact action such as the one with which this invention isconcerned should be at least as great as the lever arm between thepivotal point of the jack and the point of contact of the jack arm withthe stop and preferably should be greater in order to obtain a propermovement of the jack and a proper coordination and operation of the keylever, wippen, jack and hammer. By reason of the fact that the center offorce of the spring 30 (see the double headed arrow in Fig. 2) isoutside the point of contact of the jack arm with the stop or abutmentmember 32 in all positions of the jack during its upward and lateralmovements, the jack will be biased at all times about the pivot 33, in acounter-clockwise direction, as viewed in the drawing, and towards thecushion or lateral stop 26 on the hammer butt 22. This will be true evenduring the intervals that the jack is engaged with the member 32. Thusthere is insured an immediate complete return of the jack to the lateralstop 26 on each release of the associated key. I have also found that itis necessary for a proper operation of these parts that the length ofthe lever arm between the point of contact 34 and the pivotal point 33should be one-fifth the length of the lever arm between the pivotalpoint 33 and the point of contact of the jack with the cushion 27, suchlatter lever arm being indicated by the broken line 38 in Fig. 3 of thedrawing. By maintaining the above-mentioned relationships, I found thatI was enabled to provide a compact action mechanism which, whileconsiderably smaller than the standard mechanism, satisfied all the longestablished requirements for a standard upright action and operated in amanner comparable to the latter.

The stop 32 is mounted on a stop or regulating rail 39 in such mannerthat it may be adjusted vertically to the proper position for regulatingthe movement of the jack. The rail 39 which is supported on the actionrail 2|] by means of a plurality of outwardly extending arms 40 isarranged with respect to the fly or jack that it also functions as astop or block to the outward pivotal movement of the jack, the latterengaging with the felted cushion 4| provided on the inner face of therail and extending the full length thereof. The rail 39 as thus arrangedserves the dual purpose of providing a support for the verticallyadjustable stop and insuring a proper operation of the jack every timethe key lever functions.

A downwardly and outwardly extending inclined rod 42 is connected to thehammer butt 22 and carries a countercheck or button 43 at its outer end.The button 43 is adapted to engage with a back check 44 after the hammerhas been The back check 44 is supported on back-check wire 45 securedadjacent the outer end of the wippen 18 so that it is raised into properposition for checking the backward movement of the hammer when thewippen I8 is lifted by the capstan screw '75 of the key lever.Positioned on the wippen I8 intermediate the wire and the outer end ofthe wippen, is a bridle wire 43 to which is attached one end of a bridle41, the other end of which is secured to the hammer butt by means of therod 42. A spring 48 is provided for returning the hammer to its normalor at-rest position without vibration after a key has been struck. Theparts 42, 45, 46, 41 and 43 are arranged as in a standard piano actionbut are considerably shorter than like parts in such action andcontribute to the compactness of my action.

The several rails for supporting the action are mounted upon a pluralityof standards, one of which is illustrated in Fig. 1 of the drawing. Thestandard illustrated comprises a vertically disposed body portion 50which is pivotally sup ported at its lower end by means of a screwmember 5| and which is adjustably secured to the backboard 52 of thepiano by means of the threaded rod 53 and the hand nut 54. The standardis provided intermediate its ends with an outwardly extending brace 55which functions as a rest for the hammer rail 25, the latter of which ispivotally connected to the standard by means of the connecting wires 53.The standard is provided adjacent its lower end with a recess into whichis received the body of the action rail 20 and by means of which suchrail is supported on the standard. As is shown more clearly in Fig. 2,the action rail 26 has an upper offset portion, the outer face of whichis formed to receive the hammer flange 2!, the bottom face of the latterabutting the shoulder formed by the offset upper portion. The upperportion of the rail 20 is so proportioned that when the hammer flange ispositioned thereon, the pivotal point of the hammer 22 is disposed in ahorizontal direction nearer the pivotal point of the jack 28 than iscustomary in ordinary upright actions, whereby, when the jack is in itsnormal at rest position with its upper end engaging in the corner formedby the cushions 26 and 21, the jack is tilted only slightly to the leftfrom the vertical, as viewed in Fig, 1. The ratios of the several leverarms functioning in the operation of the jack and the arc of movement ofthe point of contact of the jack with the hammer butt cushions under theinfluence of the stop 32 are so arranged that when the key is depressedand held in its lowermost position using normal playing pressure, theupper end or point of contact of the jack is displaced from its point ofcontact in the corner between the cushions 25 and 2'! to the rightapproximately three sixteenths of an inch, or, in degrees, approximatelysix degrees, so that the jack is tilted slightly to the right, as viewedin Fig. 1, to a position at rest on the right-hand side of a verticalline passed through the axis of the jack. I have found that by arrangingthe jack with respect to the several connecting parts so it is movedfrom one side of a vertical line passed through the pivotal point of thejack, through such vertical line to a point on the other side thereof,as a result of the downward movement of the key in the normal playing ofthe piano, I have been enabled to provide a satisfactory let-off actionof the jack for small compact actions of the type with which thisinvention is concerned. The inner face of such oifset portion of therail 20 is provided with a felted groove 59 within which is disposed thedamper rod 51, the latter being supported in position by the dependingmembers 58 which extend upwardly and are pivotally connected at theirupper ends to the projecting ends of the damper rod flanges 60. As isshown in Fig. 2, the flanges 61] are secured in substantially horizontalrelation to the top surface of the action rail. The damper rod 57, as isusual, is adapted to engage with the lower end of the damper shank 6|which has supported at its upper end the damper 62. The damper shank 6|is pivotally supported intermediate its ends by the flange 63 which,like the flange 6B, is mounted on the top surface of the rail 20. Thismanner of supporting the dampers and damper rod enables the readyassemblage and removal of the parts and simplifies the construction ofthe action rail 20. A spoon E4 is provided on the inner end of thewippen l8 for normal operation of the damper during the playing of thepiano.

As a further means for controlling the functioning of the dampers 62, Iprovide a rod 66,-

having a plurality of upwardly extending standards or supports carryinga hollow silk cord 68 which is threaded through the upper ends of suchsupports and extends in substantially parallel relation to the rod 5b.small cord made of silk threads braided in a manner well known to theart into a hollow cylindrical form so that it has a very fine bore. Therod 66 normally rests against a pair of felt pads 69 provided on thelower ends of two flange;

members" or supports 10, depending from the outer end portions of theaction rail 20. As is shown in Fig, 2, the upper ends of the members H!are practically similar in shape to the wippen flanges l9 and areattached to the action rail in a similar manner, whereas the lower endsthereof are substantially boot-shaped, the felt pads 89 being mounted onthe toes thereof. The rod 65 is supported in position against the feltpads 69 by a pair of depending members ll whose upper ends are pivotallyconnected to the flange members lil whereby the rod 66 may be pivotedinwardly and upwardly, as is shown in Fig. 2. Pivotal movement isimparted to the rod 66 by depressing one of the foot pedals on the piano(not shown) to which it is connected by lifter mechanism of aconventional type and therefore not shown. Each of the damper shanks Blis provided with a depending wire 12 having at its lower end a head 73which, as is shown in Fig. 1, normally moves in an arcuate path abovethe silk cord 88. When the rod 66 has been pivoted inwardly, however, tothe position shown in Fig. 2, the silk cord will have been moved into aposition where it will be in the path of movement of the head 13. If thedamper has been operated, due to the striking of its associated key, sothat the head 13 is at its innermost position at the time the silk cord68 is moved into its path of movement, as shown in dotted lines in Fig.2, the head 13 will be held against return to its normal position andthe damper 62 will be prevented from damping its associated string.Thus, by reason of this arrangement, individual notes or chords may besustainedduring the playing of the piano. The tension of the silk cord68 is such that it does not interfere with the noiirnal action ofsubsequently actuated dampers in the playing of the piano.

t will be observed that by constructing and arranging the several partsof the action and key lever mechanism in the manner above described thatthe lever arm from the :point. of contact 34 to the pivotal point 33 ofthe jack 28 .is less than the lever arm from the center of The chord 68is a;

'force of the spring 30 and bears a 1:5 relationship with the lever armbetween such pivotal point and the point of contact at the upper end .ofthe jack,,arranging the rail 39 so that it performs thedual function ofsupporting the stops 32 and back stopping the jacks and simplifyingconstruction of the action rail and rearranging the relation of theparts supported thereby, I am enabled to reduce the height of theupright action from 11 /4 inches, which is the height nor- ,mallynecessary for the standard upright action,

to that of 7%; inches, without interfering in any way with therequirements imposed by the mod- 1 cm technique with respect to touch,power, resonance, hammer travel, jack action, etc. The

above described arrangement also enables me to incorporate an individualnote sustaining mechanism in a small compact upright action unit, which,so far as I am aware, has never before been accomplished.

While the above described construction embodies the preferred form of myinvention, it will be apparent that various changes in the specific formshown and disclosed may be made within the scope of the appended claimswithout departing from the spirit of the invention.

I claim:

1. In a small upright piano, a compactpiano action comprising a wippen,a jack having an outwardly projecting arm pivotally supported on saidwippen, a pivoted hammer butt engaging the upper end of said jack, acoiled spring supported j between said wippen and jack arm and adapted rrail, dampers having damper shanks, flange members attached insubstantially horizontal position to the upper surface of said actionrail and pivotally supporting said damper shanks,

I a second set of flange members attached in substantially horizontalposition to the upper surface of said action rail, a damper rod disposedin the groove of said action rail, and supporting members connectingsaid damper rod with said second set of flange members.

2. In a small upright piano, a compact piano action comprising an actionrail recessed on its inner face to provide a longitudinally extendinggroove, dampers having damper shanks, a wire member depending from eachof said damper shanks and having a head at the lower end thereof, flangemembers attached to said action rail and pivotally supporting saiddamper shanks, a'second set of flange members attached to said actionrail, a damper rod disposed in the groove of said action r-ail,supporting members connecting said damper rod with said second set offlange members, a second rod extending in substantially parallelrelation with said damper rod and being provided with a plurality ofupstanding posts, a hollow silk cord carried by said posts, a pair ofdepending supports mounted on said action rail and being provided attheir lower ends with a felt cushion against which said second rodnormally rests, supporting members pivotally connecting said secondrod'to said depending supports and arranged to enable said rod to bepivoted upwardly to move said hollow silk cord into the path of movementof the heads at the lower ends of said Wire members.

3. In a small upright piano having a height substantially less than thatof a full-sized upright piano, a compact piano action having a verticaldimension not substantially greater than 7 /4 inches and comprising awippen pivoted for movement in a vertical plane'and provided on itsunder surface with a felt pad adapted to be engaged by a capstan screwmounted on the key lever associated with such action, a standardattached to said wippen above the felt pad and extending upwardlytherefrom, a jack having an outwardly projecting arm pivotally supportedon said standard, a pivoted hammer butt engaging the upper end of saidjack, a lateral stop on said hammer butt for the upper end of the jack,a relatively short shank mounted on said hammer butt and supportinga,hammer head, a coiled spring supported between said wippen and jackarm and adapted to normally maintain said jack in engagement with saidhammer butt and said lateral stop, and a fixed abutment member disposedabove said jaok arm and adapted to engage said arm'and to pivot saidjack outwardly away from said lateral stop when said wippen is raisedupwardly, the lever arm distance from the point of contact of said jackarm with said abutment member to the pivotal point of said jack in allrelative positions of said points during upward and lateral movement ofthe jack being no longer than the lever arm distance from the center offorce of said spring with respect to said jack arm to the pivotal pointof said jack, whereby the spring will bias the jack towards said lateralstop before actual disengagement of said points of contact and willthereby insure an immediate complete return of the jack to said lateralstop on each release of each previously depressed key.

FERNANDO A, WESSELL, JR.

